It’s a Wild Duke Chase

The night before he and his teammates were to play Michigan State, Arizona forward Eugene Edgerson called a players-only meeting in his hotel room.

He talked of carrots, eggs and coffee beans.

Carrots soften when boiled. Eggs are only hard on the outside. But coffee beans are best when roasted.

“I wanted us to play like coffee beans,” he said.

Hours later, the Wildcats looked as strong as a triple espresso, shoving aside defending national champion Michigan State with an 80-61 victory Saturday before a crowd of 45,406 at the Metrodome.

Arizona, considered by many to be too soft to contain Michigan State’s frontline, advanced to the title game for the second time in school history.

“Each day we watch on TV and everybody’s talking about how soft we are, and that we can’t compete with nobody because of rebounding and stuff like that,” said Edgerson, who was a freshman on the 1997 national championship team. “Now we’ve proven everybody wrong, and it just feels good.”

All five starters scored in double figures for the Wildcats (28-7), who had a two-point lead at halftime, then put Michigan State on its heels with a 23-5 run to start the second half.

Spartan forward Andre Hutson, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, led a comeback that cut the deficit to 60-50 with eight minutes to play. But Arizona pulled away for good with a 20-11 flurry down the stretch.

Arizona center Loren Woods had 11 points and eight rebounds, and forward Michael Wright scored 13 points--all in the second half. Edgerson, who had as many rebounds (six) as points, was the only bench player to score.

Providing the knockout punch were Arizona guards Jason Gardner (21 points) and Gilbert Arenas (12), and swingman Richard Jefferson (17). They combined for seven three-point baskets and 11 steals, frequently taking gambles to swipe outlet passes then cruise in for layups or dunks.

“So many people are keying on Mike and Loren, the perimeter’s getting a lot of open looks,” said Gardner, whose Michigan State counterpart, star point guard Charlie Bell, went one for 10 from the field.

Gardner is a streaky shooter, so he and his teammates were feeling good when he made three of five three-point shots in the first half.

“Sometimes he goes through hot and cold phases,” teammate Justin Wessel said. “When he got a couple early, you know we were in good shape.”

The Spartans (28-5) won the rebounding battle, 40-33, although they averaged 18 1/2 more than their previous four opponents.

“We felt we could outshoot them if we didn’t give them so many second and third efforts,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “They do an unbelievable job with the glass.”

But that wasn’t enough for Michigan State, which went two for 14 from behind the arc and committed 15 turnovers to Arizona’s eight. The Wildcats also had seven blocks.

“We just picked the wrong time to have our worst game of the year,” Hutson said.

It was Michigan State’s worst NCAA tournament loss, and the worst defeat since a 21-point loss at Illinois in 1998.

Michigan State guard Marcus Taylor said it seemed before the game the Spartans were ready. This was not unfamiliar turf, after all; they have reached the Final Four three years in a row.

“We felt focused [before the game], just the whole atmosphere in the room,” he said. “Everybody seemed serious and had the championship on their mind. But it was a little different story when the ball was thrown up. You could tell that we didn’t have the spark and fire in our eyes that we always did in the other games.”

Woods clearly had that energy from the beginning. He opened the game with a three-point play, and two minutes later threw down a double-fisted dunk. The Wildcats have had problems in the past getting their rail-thin center into the flow early. He took this challenge personally.

“I’m a grown man, so I’m not going to go into any game like somebody’s tougher than me,” he said. “I’m not going to crumble in any situation.”

In the wake of consecutive victories over Illinois and Michigan State--maybe the most jarring combination punch in college basketball--the only thing crumbling is the notion Arizona has a glass jaw.

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Scratching on Defense

Arizona has matched its season average by scoring 81 points a game in its five tournament games, but the biggest factor in reaching the championship game has been its defensive play. The Wildcats have held each of their opponents well below their season shooting percentages (a total of more than eight percentage points) and four of five well below their season scoring averages:

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Field Goal Pct Points Per Game Team Season vs. Ariz. Season vs. Ariz. Diff. Eastern Illinois .475 .370 82.7 76 - 6.7 Butler .460 .387 69.6 52 -17.6 Mississippi .442 .345 71.3 56 -15.3 Illinois .454 .397 77.9 81 + 3.1 Michigan State .492 .410 77.9 61 -16.9 Averages .465 .381 75.9 65.2 -10.7

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